Betoyne elected mayor.
When the Feast of St. Simon and Jude again came round, and Chigwell's term of office expired by efflux of time, no election of a successor took place, but on the 15th November, the Bishop of Winchester paid a visit to the Guildhall, where, after receiving the freedom of the city, and swearing "to live and die with them in the cause, and to maintain the franchise," he presented a letter from the queen, permitting the citizens freely to elect their mayor as in the days before the Iter of 1321, for since that time no mayor had been elected, save only by the king's[pg 159] favour.[420] They at once elected Richard de Betoyne, whom the queen had that day appointed Warden of the Tower, conjointly with John de Gisors.[421] Thus were these two aldermen recompensed for the assistance they had rendered Mortimer in his escape from the Tower.
Public declaration in favour of the queen and the City's rights. 13 Jan., 1327.
On the 13th January, 1327—exactly one week before the king met his wretched end in Berkeley Castle—Mortimer came to the Guildhall with a large company including the Archbishop of Canterbury and several bishops, and one and all made oath to maintain the cause of the queen and of her son, and to preserve the liberties of the City of London. This was solemnly done in the presence of the mayor, the chamberlain, Andrew Horn, and a vast concourse of citizens. The Archbishop, who had offended many of the citizens by annulling the decree of exile passed against the Despensers in 1321, now sought their favour by the public offer of a gift to the commonalty of 50 tuns of wine.[422]
CHAPTER VII.
Edward's charter to the city, 6 March, 1327.
Edward III was only fourteen years of age when he succeeded to the throne. For the first three years of his reign the government of the country was practically in the hands of Mortimer, his mother's paramour; and it was no doubt by his advice and that of the queen-mother that the young king rewarded the citizens of London, who had shown him so much favour, by granting them not only a general pardon[423] for offences committed since he set foot in England in September, 1326, but also a charter confirming and enlarging their ancient liberties.[424]
This latter charter, which has been held to be of the force of an Act of Parliament,[425] established (among other things) the ferm of the Sheriffwick of London and Middlesex at the original sum of £300 per annum, instead of the increased rental of £400 which had been paid since 1270;[426] it appointed the mayor one of the justices at the gaol delivery of Newgate, as well as the king's escheator of felon's goods within the city; it gave the citizens the right of devising real estate within the city; it restored to them all the privileges they had enjoyed before the memorable Iter of the[pg 161] last reign; and granted to them a monopoly of markets within a circuit of seven miles of the city.[427] These two charters—the charter of pardon and the charter of liberties—together with another charter[428] releasing the citizens from all debts due to the late king, were publicly read and explained in English to the citizens assembled at the Guildhall by Andrew Horn, the Chamberlain, on the 9th March.[429]